Erawan plans huge expansion

Erawan Group plans to invest 10 billion baht (US$283 million) over five years to open more hotels at home in Thailand as well as abroad for the first time – in the Philippines – as it seeks to become one of Southeast Asia’s leading hoteliers.
Erawan aims to increase its hotels to 95 by 2020 from 34, spending just over half of its investment budget in Thailand, president Kamonwan Wipulakorn said.
Erawan has benefited from a rise in the number of visitors to Thailand, particularly from China, with a total of 40 million expected in 2020 from an estimated 32 million in 2016, Kamonwan said.
This year, the hotelier targets a room occupancy rate of 80 percent, from 73 percent last year when tourist numbers dipped after a bombing in Bangkok in August, she said.
About a third of Erawan’s investment budget will go to the Philippines, where the hotelier will open the first of 20 hotels under its Hop Inn budget chain in Manila, in the fourth quarter.
The remainder of the budget is marked for asset improvement, adding that the company is exploring options in Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar.
Erawan aims for revenue growth of 15 percent in 2016, and an average of 11 percent over the next five years, Kamonwan Wipulakorn said.